Information for 14653IIED

Biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction: what’s the connection? A systematic mapping of the evidence

International policy statements refer to the apparently self-evident truth that preserving biodiversity is closely linked to alleviating poverty. Certainly, development planners should take biodiversity more seriously — mainstream development pathways continue to degrade natural environments and deplete valuable biodiversity resources. But a systematic mapping of the literature shows that rigorous, documented evidence of whether, how, and how far biodiversity can alleviate poverty is surprisingly sparse.

This research report presents the rationale behind this systematic mapping exercise, its methodology and results, and concludes that researchers and policymakers must do more to explore the complex relationships that exist if policies and institutions that enable an effective contribution of biodiversity to poverty reduction are to be maximised.

Project information

There is an explicit assumption that reducing the rate of biodiversity loss can help in efforts to tackle global poverty. But the evidence for this assumption is surprisingly weak. This project aimed to review the existing evidence base, identify knowledge gaps and make evidence more widely available.